On October 12, the Polovtsi horde swept through the cinemas throughout the country – the first Ukrainian full-length fantasy film The Stronghold was launched. The film was created by the Kinorob company, but not without the services of the FILM.UA studio: costumes, make-up, props, transit – the list can go on and on.
So, don’t switch the channel and see coming next in the program: who and how helped the crew at the film studio in working on the film The Stronghold, and why we can help you, too.
COSTUMES
The first thing that catches your eye when you get familiar with The Stronghold is a colorful image and a variety of tempers and textures of the film characters. In many ways it became possible thanks to the film’s costume designer: Antonina Belinska said that it took her a month and a half to develop the sketches. At first, the team studied historical sources, then it held numerous consultations with historians and reenactors. And only after that, the artists began working on the costumes – there were made 160 of them, and about 150 more were selected from the private collections. Each costume is a work of art: Dobrynia’s armor, for example, consists of half a thousand plates, and the bohatyr’s costume weighs more than 30 kilograms.
To make Shaman’s costume, it took about 450 meters of cloth, which was cut and plaited into bundles, and each bundle was dyed separately in different shades. The outfit of the insidious Andak, the key enemy of the Rymiv inhabitants, contains not a single factory detail.
And for women’s costumes, the canvas was woven specifically. Even the necklace for heroines was produced using special technology. Now all the costumes are carefully stored in the FILM.UA costume studio and are waiting for the new projects – welcome!
PROPS
For the viewer to maximally get into the spirit of Kyivan Rus, hundreds of kilograms of props were made specifically for the shooting of The Stronghold. For the Polovtsi camp, everything was made from scratch – yurts, tents, open hearths. Yurts were created in the image of real houses of this type, while almost original drawings were used. At first, a wooden frame was built, which was later covered with various materials. This took 200 square meters of felt, as well as more than fifty hides, both with or without finishing.
The central role in the plot is occupied by a magic stone, and the artistic director of the project, Vlad Odudenko, had to do a spot of thinking on its sketch. At the beginning, the stone was to be made ordinary, then the idea came that this should be a cosmic thing and it was given a pointed shape. However, to keep the connection with the era, the sign of Perun was added, a god of thunderclouds, thunder, and lightning. So, that’s how that magic stone, familiar to the audience through the film, came out.
LOCATIONS
The locations for the film were the Ukrainian Carpathians and Dovbush Rocks, Korostyshiv Quarry, Teterivskyi Kish, Ukrainian lakes and swamps.
Of course, it was not without shooting at the film studio, where the large-scale scenery of the fortress of The Stronghold was specifically built on the backlot, and part of the scenes was shot in the spacious FILM.UA pavilions.
Pavilion No. 1 is one of the largest and technologically best-equipped pavilions in Ukraine and the biggest one in the studio. Here, the shooting of the final battle from The Stronghold took place, and the Polovtsi camp was built in full size.
Pavilion No. 8 was involved while shooting the music video for the song "Mantra", performed by Oleh (Fagot) Mykhailyuta. The song became part of the official soundtrack of the film, and Fagot played the role of the stronghold watchman, which was written by scriptwriters specifically for him.
During two years, on the territory of the FILM.UA Group backlot, specifically for the film the fortress was created, where the main scenes of The Stronghold took place. While creating it the artists started from the way the fortresses in Kyivan Rus looked like in the 12th-13th centuries and used the similar construction techniques. In addition to the fortress, a number of household objects were also constructed on the territory of the movie village: special canopies, a smithy, barns, and haylofts, all of which can be seen in the film.
CATERING
For the brave cinematographers’ strength not to give out, night and day, in the heat and blizzard Khlopushka, Tarelka, and Shapka fed the crew at the studio, as well as at the outings. Now the restaurant complex operates as usual and is ready to feed you too – come to visit, or catering will come to you.
TRANSIT
5 000 kilometers en route, promotion tour in Kyiv, transit on numerous premiers all over Ukraine – the FILM.UA transport service was not bored at all, and ‘worked’ for the premiere of The Stronghold on a par with fellow tradesmen.
So, it’s not only the legendary dad, who can do anything but also the FILM.UA studio: to feed, give to drink, sew costumes, build a fortress, and, of course, shoot the film. So, film companies, television studios, productions of all kinds, or independent filmmakers – call us, write to us, and we will be happy to help.
And very soon the last sessions of The Stronghold will take place in the cinemas, and from the screens, its characters will be transferred directly to the film studio to create new amazing universes, write the history of the new Ukrainian cinema. You will be able to get acquainted with many of them personally – during the master classes and meetings within the framework of the FILM.UA Weekend – the announcements will appear here very soon.
In the meantime, stay with us. And if you still haven’t watched The Stronghold, don’t waste your time, the film turned out really great.
